Miller Signs!

I know this is old news, but what gets me all choked up about his 5 year $31.5 million dollar deal was the reason he decided to sign.  Read below…

“Yesterday’s signing of Ryan Miller was a stroke of genius. 5 years and $31.5 million is a lot of cake. Miller is worth every penny of that deal. I spoke with Mike Liut, Miller’s agent yesterday about Ryan’s new deal. Liut told me something that has been resonating in my head since I first heard it.

“The signing of Paul Gaustad really impressed Ryan. That meant a lot to him and made his signing all the more special”.

Those that know Miller know him to be a thoughtful, emotional guy. He loves his teammates and he makes no bones about playing for a Stanley Cup with his buds that he’s played with in Rochester. Miller waxes poetic about his experiences in Rochester. Some of the best experiences of his life were shared with Goose, Roy, Vanek, Pommer, Paille, Ryan, and Paetsch. He’s a loyal soldier this Miller. When it came time to sign on the dotted line, he wanted the assurance that his guys would remain on the ice in front of him for years to come.” (from Garth @ My Hockey Buzz.com)

Now thats what you call loyalty.  A man that truly loves his team, team mates, and his city. Just wish Danny Briere felt the same way.

Five Guys

Wow!  What can you say about this restaurant.  If you haven’t had a Five Guys Burger then you need to go. Drop everything you are doing and drive to one right now.  Zagats is definitely right on the money!  This is one of the best burgers I have ever had.  When you first walk in you are hit immediately in the face with the strong aroma of burgers and fries.  Your options – A regular burger (which is two patties) or a lite burger (which is one patty).  You can get that plain, with cheese, and or bacon.  Then you can add from a number of sides.  I am a simple guys so I went for a regular bacon cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms and ketchup.  After you make your burger selection then you have your fries.  Two choices – regular or large, Cajun or regular.  Regular fries are a large cup dumped into a bag (which is about a large cup and a half). Its like a jumbo bag, enough for two people.  Large fries are two large cups of fries dumped into a bag (which is enough fries for the entire city).  If you like a little spice I suggest the Cajun fries.  Have some peanuts while you wait (which are located on the tables in the restaurant).  It took about 10 minutes for our food and I think that was only because we went right before a Washington Nationals game so needless to say it was packed.  We ended up taking it back to my brothers, whom only lives a half a block away.  Well worth the visit.  Can’t wait to try Good Stuff Eatery later this week.

Vacation in the Nations Capitol

Today was the first day of my summer (travel) vacation.  I traveled with my older brother and his wife and two kids to the nations capitol to visit our youngest brother who is a programmer (computer information systems) for the Library of Congress.  Needless to say when the three of use get together it can be a very amusing.  Getting lost and laughing hysterically in bumper to bumper traffic on the way to BWI Airport to pick up my brothers wife’s brother and his wife was definitely the highlight so far.  (Check out the pictures a once I get home on Monday)  The rest of the night was spent hanging out and drinking some beers.  What will happen tomorrow, not sure, but it should be interesting.

New Look!

Making some changes to The Sheep Shack.  It has been a long time since I posted last, but I promise, I am going to make a better effort to become a better blogger!

A Winter Classic Pt. 2

New Year’s Eve was going to be very different.  I wasn’t able to hang out with my friends for the first time in a number of years.  A few of them actually went to New Hampshire while others just drank at home.  I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents, my brother and his wife and son.  Morning was going to come quick.  7:15am was our departure time and we actually left on time.  We had some snow to deal with, but for the most part it was clear the entire way to Buffalo.  A friend of my that I graduated High School with works for WGR 550 in Buffalo NY and he is somewhat known as the voice of Buffalo Sports.  He was doing a live pre-game show from Ralph Wilson Stadium so I said to my brother (who was driving ) I am going to call him and get on the air.  I did just that.  I had to wait about 20 minutes, but I got on.  The phone call was quick, but he remembered me and said it was good to hear from some of his high school buddies.  When we arrived in Buffalo the traffic was crazy.  We waited about 30 minutes on Abbott road.  When we pulled up to the stadium and pulled in the parking lot all you could see was tailgaters.  Limos, campers, SUVs all tailgating.  Burn barrels and grills dominated the parking lot while some fans played football and others booed Penguin fans as they walked by.  I was like a young boy on Christmas morning.  I wanted to get over to the stadium, buy some stuff and walk around.  They had tents of merchandise, food, and vendors in lot C for the offical Buffalo Sabres Tailgate party.  We actually made it for the last half hour, but didn’t partake in any festivities.  We basically just walked around.  (you can see pictures of this and the game on my flickr site) When 11:00am hit we got patted down and it was off to our seats for a two hour wait for the game to begin.  However there was entertainment provided by Kevin and the guys from the shootout, not to mention getting the crowed pumped to go live with CBC and NBC.  Everything was great.  Our seats were great (we sat in 307 near the jumbo-tron), the game was great, and the fans were great.  Yes, the Sabres lost, but it wasn’t about winning or losing.  It was about playing the game of hockey outdoors like the players use to when they were younger.  This will be a day that I will never forget.  I will however forget the 2 hour wait to get out of the parking lot.  That was HELL! Lets do it again Buffalo.  I’m ready and I know the Buffalo Fans are always ready.  Next Year? My friend asked me the other day what is the big deal with the Winter Classic.  We play outdoors every game (he is a season ticket holder for the Buffalo Bills) he says.  You hockey fans play outside once every 5 years and you think your so special. Bunch of girls I think you are.  Gotta play hockey inside, its to cold outside.Any thoughts on this? 

A Winter Classic

How did you spend your New Year’s Eve/Day?  Me, well it was nothing more than sitting at Ralph Wilson Stadium watching the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburg Penguins play hockey in front of the largest crowd to view a hockey game.  O yeah did I mention that it was OUTSIDE! (more on the issue in a minute)When I first heard that the Sabres were going to play a hockey game outside like the Heritage Classic in 2003 I could contain myself.  First of all its the Buffalo Sabres (if you couldn’t tell I am a huge fan.) and second IT WAS GOING TO BE OUTSIDE.The day the tickets went on sale I was on the phone waiting, as well as my brother and his wife, but to our amazement the tickets sold out in less then 30 minutes.  Wait, I don’t think you understood what you just read.  74 thousand tickets sold in less than 30 minutes.  Thats insane!!!  Well I had to face the fact that I wasn’t going to The Winter Classic.  I wanted to be part of history because my team was going to be part of history.  Earlier that month my brother and I sat down and picked out the games that we could make.  We live in Central New York (myself in Auburn, my brother in Liverpool) so the trip to Buffalo takes about 2 1/2 hours plus we are both very busy after school and on the weekends.  We picked some pretty intense games and got some great seats.  (you can see pictures from the games on my flickr site)On December 21st we made our way to Buffalo to experience Daniel Briere’s homecoming.  It was a calm night.  No snow, no wind and everything was good.  The thruway was packed because it was the start of Christmas Break for the schools, plus Christmas Eve was Monday.  We parked in our normal spot and walked quickly to the Arena.  Its Buffalo, it was freezing.  Right before we entered the doors my brothers cell phone rang.  I remember him answering the phone and smiling.  I tried to ask him a number of times what was going on, but he just ignored me.  He hung up and looked at me and said “Were going to the Winter Classic.”  The owner of the company he works for got him 2 tickets to the winter classic.I couldn’t believe it.  We were going to the Winter Classic.  O by the way Buffalo beat Philly 3 – 2.  If you watch the highlights from that game you can see us when Spacek dropped Danny.  It happened right in front of us.  to be continued… 

Becoming Better at Blogging!

Hello Everyone.  I guess I first apologize for my long absence.  When I first came up with the idea for my blog I thought I was going to post every day.  I was going to keep people informed about what is going on in my world, but obviously I was wrong. So maybe I should get you up to date since my last post (quickly). November was a very busy month.  First, Buffalo hockey started to turn around and they had a 6 game winning streak.  YEAH!  Second, I had a number of musical events at school that kept me busy not to mention the end of the marching band season and the beginning of the winter indoor season.   December was even worse then November.  It just wasn’t Christmas shopping, but it was more concerts, more performances, more everything, but probably the worse was the passing of my grandmother 2 weeks before Christmas.  That was Rough.     Lets see what January will bring.  Maybe a few more post from me.  

I’ll take Clark MacArther for the Win!

Its been a few months since I have last written. I thought I would get back to my blog since I am back at school, marching band is over, and hockey season has started.

My team is in need of something. What, I don’t know, but I am not going to be like the rest of the wagon hoppers. I’m sticking with my team. Ok, so going from first to worst (not really worst – its just a slang term) really hurts. They will find their way. Its like they are still testing the pond to make sure it is ok to skate on.

With all the injuries it seems like Lindy is playing a nice game of Hollywood Square. Try that square and it gets block, try another square and that gets blocked also. Finally Lindy picked the right square and got a big X.

At the end of the game last night I said, “Yes, We Won!” Kind of funny if you think about it. Last year it was the total opposite. “Damn, there goes our 11 game winning streak to start the season.”

More from the Shack later.

Bahhhhhhhh!

Long to no write!

It has been a long time since I have signed in and posted. I just checked the date. Wow May 25th. Thats a long time ago. I guess the end of the hockey season was a little dissapointing, but at the same time I have been doing a lot. I am actually house sitting right now and I am watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I love that show. Well you are probably wondering why I haven’t posted in a month. Well I will tell you why.

Most of my time has been spent at my new job. In May I got a summer job. Summer gets a little boaring so I thought lets get a job, but not just a job, a job that I will really like. Well I thought about it and I now work at a winery. I working in the tasting room pouring wine for guests on wine tours and what not. Its a lot of fun. The winery is Treleaven Wines at King Ferry. (www.treleavenwines.com) There are a lot of perks to working at a winery; free clothing, free random stuff, and the best part free WINE!

When I am not at the winery I am usually working with a marching band. I was asked to be a consultant at Jordan Elbridge. Since July 9th I have been working with their marching band doing brass and various other staff jobs. Next Friday will be my last day because I will be traveling to Wellsville NY to help a friend out with his band camp. I am also the head writer for his band. The week after that is Auburn’s band camp. So I will be very busy teaching band.

Plus in March I took the final steps to become a Mason.

As you can see I have been doing a lot.

Make sure you visit my blogroll and check out some of my new websites!

Plus check out this article at the bottom about Buffalo being the best city for hockey.

God vs. The Sabres

Now that hockey season is over I will have to find something else to write about. Little dissapointed with the end of the Sabres season, but Ottawa has to be given credit. They really handed it to the Sabres. All I can say now is, GO DUCKS!

Well for all you Sabres fans (and maybe you non – Sabres fans), you should check out their new website. The NHL is converting all of the web pages of the 30 hockey teams into a universal format. The Sabres are the 8th team to transition into this new universal format. It looks kind of nice.

The big news on the page is that Briere, Drury, and Zubris all want to stay in Buffalo. Isn’t that GREAT! I hope it happens.

On the page you will be able watch all three of the playoff movies that were created just for the Sabres. I didn’t know there was three versions of the playoff movie. You should go watch them. Also the Sabres have released a new video to thank the all the fans that supported the team through out the regular season and the playoffs, which brings me to the title of this post.

The video has commentary from the players as well as scenes from outside the arena during the playoffs. It’s set to the music of Pirates of the Carribean.

Half way through the video is a shot of a fan holding a sign which reads (probably the best quote), “ONLY GOD SAVES MORE THAN MILLER.”